Oral lichen planus - retrospective study of 563 Croatian patients

Objectives: To investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of oral lichen planus (OLP) in a group of Croatian patients seen between 2006 and 2012. Study D esign: A group of 563 patients with a diagnosis of OLP was retrospectively reviewed in our clinic. Data regarding age, gender, medical history, drugs, smoking, alcohol, chief complaint, clinical type, localization, his - tology, treatment and malignant transformation were registered. Results: Of the 563 patients, 414 were females and 149 were males. The average age at the diagnosis was 58 (range 11-94). The most common site was buccal mucosa (82.4%). Most of our patients did not smoke (72.5%) or consume alcohol (69.6%). Patients reported oral soreness (43.3%), mucosal roughness (7%), xerostomia (3%), gingival bleeding (2%) and altered taste (0.5%) as the chief complaint, while almost half of them were asympto - matic (44.2%). The most common types of OLP were reticular (64.8%) and erosive (22.9%). Plaque-like (5.7%) atrophic/erythemtous (4.3%) and bullous (2.3%) type were also observed. Malignant transformation rate of 0.7% was recorded. Conclusions: OLP mostly affects non-smoking middle-aged women. Buccal mucosa is the most commonly af - fected site. In almost half of the cases patients are asymptomatic. In spite of the small risk for malignant transfor - mation all patients should be regularly monitored

Frequency of factor II G20210A, factor V Leiden, MTHFR C677T and PAI-1 5G/4G polymorphism in patients with venous thromboembolism: Croatian case-control study

Introduction: Venous thromboembolic disease is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. Identification of hereditary factors of thrombophilia is contributing to a better understanding of the etiology and disease prevention. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of factor IIG20210A, factor V Leiden, MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) C677T and PAI-1 (plasminogen activator inhibitor-1) 5G/4G polymorphisms in healthy Croatian subjects and patients with thromboembolism. Materials and methods: This prospective study included 100 thromboembolic patients consecutively admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, Sestre Milosrdnice University Hospital and 106 healthy subjects. Genotyping of factor IIG20210A, factor V Leiden, MTHFR C677T and PAI-1 5G/4G polymorphisms was done using melting curve analysis on Light Cycler 1.2 analyzer. Results: Heterozygotes for Factor V Leiden polymorphism were more frequent in the group of patients with the thromboembolic disease (16%) than in the control healthy subjects (2.9%), OR (95% CI) = 6.41 (1.81-22.8); P = 0.004. Allele and genotype frequencies of other studied polymorphisms did not differ between cases and controls. Conclusion: This study confirmed the association of factor V Leiden polymorphism with the thromboembolic disease in Croatian population

Geoecological evaluation of local surroundings for the purposes of recreational tourism

The paper presents geoecological evaluation of the city of Loznica for the purposes of sports and recreational tourism based on quantitative method of diversity, V-Wert Method. Using the GIS tool by the quantitative method, the criteria of natural components (relief, forest, water surface and climate) are evaluated for the analyzed area. In the proposed method, the climate factor was supplemented by the analysis of the bioclimatic index Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). When the evaluation was completed, the final results were obtained based on which the degrees of convenience of different parts of the analyzed area have been presented. Out of the total analyzed surface, which amounts to 705 km2 , favorable surfaces comprise 21 km2 (2.98%), and very favorable surfaces comprise 33 km2 , i.e. 4.68% of the territory. The largest area consists of conditionally favorable terrains — 333 km2 (47.23%). Since one of the basic strategic priorities of the City of Loznica is improvement and development of sports and recreational tourism, the aim of this analysis is to emphasize the potential of the mentioned area in terms of general suitability of the terrain for the development of this type of tourism

Plasma rich in growth factors in dentistry

BackgroundPlasma rich in growth factors (PRGF) has wider use in many fields of dentistry due to its endogenous biocompatible regenerative potential i.e., their potential to stimulate and accelerate tissue healing and bone regeneration.AimsThis review shows the increasing use of PRGF technology in various fields of dentistry.Methods In the last nine years PubMed has been searched in order to find out published articles upon PRGF in dentistry and 36 papers have been included.Results PRGF technology has many advantages with positive clinical and biological outcomes in tissue healing and bone regeneration.ConclusionIn order to determine the most effective therapeutic value for patients, further research is required

Oral Adverse Reactions Caused by Over-the-Counter Oral Agents

Over-the-counter products rarely cause unwanted reactions in the oral cavity. Oral reactions to these agents are not specific and might present with various clinical oral findings. Detailed medical history is a key to the proper diagnosis of these lesions and fortunately other diagnostic procedures are rarely needed. Lesions are usually managed with elimination of the offending agent and with topical steroids. In more severe cases systemic steroids should be applied

Risk Factors For Development Of Acute Necrotizing Pancreatitis

Acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP) is a severe form of acute pancreatitis that is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Thus, an adequate initial treatment of patients who present with acute pancreatitis (AP) based on correct interpretation of early detected laboratory and clinical abnormalities may have a significant positive impact on the disease course

Risk factors for development of acute necrotizing pancreatitis

© 2015 University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Science. All rights reserved. Acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP) is a severe form of acute pancreatitis that is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Thus, an adequate initial treatment of patients who present with acute pancreatitis (AP) based on correct interpretation of early detected laboratory and clinical abnormalities may have a signifi cant positive impact on the disease course. T e aim of the study was to determine patient- and initial treatment- related risk factors for the development of acute necrotizing pancreatitis. For the purpose of this study a case-control design was chosen, including adult patients treated for AP in the surgical Intensive Care Unit (sICU) of Clinical Center of Kraguje-vac, from January 2006 to January 2011. The cases (n=63) were patients who developed ANP, while the controls (n=63) were patients with AP without the presence of pancreatic necrosis. The controls were randomly selected from a study sample after matching with the cases by age and sex. Signifi cant association with the development of ANP was found for the presence of comorbidity (adjusted OR 6.614 95%CI 1.185-36.963), and the use of somatostatin (adjusted OR 7.460, 95%CI 1.162-47.833) and furosemide (adjusted OR 2710.57, 95%CI 1.996- 56.035) started immediately upon admission to the sICU. T is study suggests that comorbidities, particularly the presence of serious cardio-vascular disease, can increase the risk for development of acute necrotizing pancreatitis. The probability for the development of ANP could be reduced by the avoidance of the initial use of loop diuretics and somatostatin